After four days of trials that began on May 25 with 133 hopefuls at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, two California girls were among the 18 finalists, but when the 12-member 2017 USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team was announced on Wednesday there were no girls from the Golden State on the roster.
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Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog
Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.
Why no Cali girls on U.S. U16 bb team?
Super 8 Baseball State Ranks Update
After one of the craziest two days of upsets we’ve ever encountered in our more than 35 years of doing California prep baseball rankings, Eastlake of Chula Vista goes to No. 1, but staying there based on history of teams having to win multiple elimination games in a section playoff may not be likely. Winner of Tuesday game between St. John Bosco and Etiwanda may be more likely final No. 1 finisher.
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Super 8 Softball State Ranks Update
This week’s top five has changed drastically with Gahr of Cerritos now gone after suffering its first loss plus the rapid rise of Grand Terrace. Benicia also is new to the Super 8 after completing impressive run to CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III title.
NOTE: Our updated State Top 20 with lists of many other teams on the bubble will be posted each week but will require Gold Club membership to see for the rest of the season. Our breakdowns and analysis of what’s coming up and what’s already happened can’t be matched anywhere else because we’ve been following the statewide scene years and years longer than any other media source. For sign up info, CLICK HERE.
(Through games of Saturday, May 27; Previous ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Norco 32-0
The hits were coming fast and furious and ended up with a total of 24 in a 20-2 win vs. Pacifica of Garden Grove in CIFSS D1 quarterfinals. The Cougars now play new No. 5 Grand Terrace in Tuesday semifinals.
Oklahoma-bound Eliyah Flores is having a strong senior season for Grand Terrace. Photo: Twitter.com.
Head coach Rob Weil’s team beat Santiago of Corona 4-1 in the CIFSS D1 quarterfinals and now gets No. 3 Orange Lutheran in the semifinals. If it does indeed become Los Al vs. Norco in the final, that matchup also would decide FloSoftball mythical national title.
3. (4) Lutheran (Orange) 27-4
Maddy Dwyer had a four-hit shutout and a one-hit shutout as the Lancers moved on in the CIFSS D1 playoffs with wins against Oaks Christian (4-0) and Valencia (1-0).
4. (8) Sheldon (Sacramento) 30-2*
This is where the Huskies rise after winning third straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 championship. They had to beat Tracy twice with no losses in the double-elmination format bracket and that’s what they did.
5. (NR) Grand Terrace 24-2
After beating defending CIFSS D1 champ Mater Dei 8-6, the Titans ramped it up even more in their next outing when they clobbered 2016 CIFSS D2 champ Mission Viejo 16-2. Their move up from D3 last year has thus been a hugely successful one.
6. (7) Buena (Ventura) 25-0-1
The Bulldogs may only be D4 in the CIFSS playoffs, but if they finish 27-0-1 to go with winning Thousand Oaks tourney this year that’ll be enough for a mythical D3 state title.
7. (5) Mission Viejo 21-6*
The Diablos’ season came to a surprising end last week when they were defeated 16-2 by previously unranked Grand Terrace in the CIFSS Division I quarterfinals. Playing in their first season in Division I, the Diablos were looking to make the section finals for the third year in a row.
8. (12) Benicia 28-2-1*
Of course, the Panthers have an argument to be the No. 1 team for Northern California this year with their head-to-head win over Sheldon. We have simply had Sheldon higher due to strength of schedule issues, although that win has helped Benicia climb into the top 10 and could help get a mythical D3 state crown.
Super 8 Baseball State Ranks Update
Harvard-Westlake has to drop all the way out after playoff loss, which creates room for La Costa Canyon and Stockdale of Bakersfield to go up into this week’s Super 8. Too bad LCC has to play No. 2 Rancho Bernardo right away in San Diego Open Division.
NOTE: Our updated State Top 20 with lists of many other teams on the bubble will be posted each week but will require Gold Club membership to see for the rest of the season. Our breakdowns and analysis of what’s coming up and what’s already happened can’t be matched anywhere else because we’ve been following the statewide scene years and years longer than any other media source. For sign up info, CLICK HERE.
(Through games of Saturday, May 20; Results from Monday, May 22 not included; Previous ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Huntington Beach 27-4
It was an impressive first playoff game for the Oilers when they beat Redondo 11-1 to start their quest for the CIF Southern Section D1 title. Hagen Danner pitched five innings to go to 11-0 and also had two hits and three RBI.
La Costa Canyon has done very well this season even though the Mavericks no longer have No. 1 MLB Draft pick Mickey Moniak. Photo: CSNPhilly.com.
2. (2) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 28-3
After blanking Poway 6-0 to end regular season, the Broncos only got a No. 4 seed in the CIF San Diego Open Division (don’t get us started on their goofy power rankings) and have very tough first playoff game Wednesday vs. state-ranked La Costa Canyon.
3. (3) Eastlake (Chula Vista) 27-3
This is is the top seeded team in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division. Whether it was the Titans or Rancho Bernardo, no problem with that. They could face an ace in Madison’s Kevin Abel in first game on Wednesday who is similar to the ace from Dana Hills (Hans Crouse) who basically knocked out previous state No. 5 Harvard-westlake last week.
4. (4) Buchanan (Clovis) 27-3
Brady Hormel got the go-ahead RBI and then added an RBI single to lead the Bears past Centennial of Bakersfield 6-2 in the CIF Central Section Division I quarterfinals.
5. (7) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 25-7-1
For this week’s rankings, we decided to match to CIFSS D2 seedings and flipped Bosco into the No. 5 position instead of moving up Moorpark. The Braves won their first playoff game 3-2 vs. M.L. King of Riverside.
6. (6) Moorpark 25-3
There were six one-run games in the opening round of the CIFSS Division II playoffs and the Musketeers also were involved in one of them as they defeated Oaks Christian of Westlake Village 3-2.
7. (9) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 24-5
Big 6-5 win over Torrey Pines (which was No. 10 in last week’s state rankings) gives Mavericks some momentum in CIF San Diego Open Division. And they’ll need it since their first game has to be against state No. 2 Rancho Bernardo.
8. (11) Stockdale (Bakersfield) 26-3
This is the No. 2 seed behind Buchanan in the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs and advanced to this week’s semifinals vs. Clovis after pounding Bullard of Fresno 10-1.
Super 8 Softball State Ranks Update
With Amador Valley of Pleasanton taking a loss, Mission Viejo gets bumped up to No. 5 in this week’s state rankings. Sheldon of Sacramento also gets to move from No. 9 to No. 8.
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All-Time Best NY Yanks from California
With Aaron Judge of Linden making such a huge splash this season hitting homers and captivating the national media in New York by how he’s been playing for the New York Yankees, we thought we’d come up with a list of the 10 greatest Yankees who are from California high schools. Will Aaron one day be on this list?
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How Will Calif NFL Teams Do in 2017?
California is one of the best places to live in the world and is a well-known tourist destination. The most populous state in the USA, California also currently has four NFL teams, which will drop by one when the Oakland Raiders move to Las Vegas. None of the four has done particularly great in recent seasons, other than the Raiders last year, but could things change in the 2017 campaign? We now look at the four California-based teams and explore how they could fare this season.
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Super 8 Baseball State Ranks Update
Huntington Beach doesn’t drop after a large margin loss since it can still finish with a better resume than any other team if it wins CIFSS Division I title. There are other teams shuffled around in this week’s rankings, including Clayton Valley of Concord being uplifted back into the top eight.
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Super 8 Softball State Ranks Update
Orange Lutheran holds off Mater Dei 5-3 in the biggest game of the week among the state’s top-ranked teams. The Lancers also remained No. 4 in this week’s rankings, which in addition to them didn’t change for any others who were in the Super 8 last week.
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Super 8 Baseball State Ranks Update
With the top three re-shuffled to Huntington Beach, Buchanan and Rancho Bernardo, the rest of the Super 8 also sees some movement. St. John Bosco and Harvard-Westlake are up and in while Clayton Valley and Bellarmine have to slide.
NOTE: Our updated State Top 20 with lists of many other teams on the bubble will be posted each week but will require Gold Club membership to see for the rest of the season. Our breakdowns and analysis of what’s coming up and what’s already happened can’t be matched anywhere else because we’ve been following the statewide scene years and years longer than any other media source. For sign up info, CLICK HERE.
(Through games of Saturday, May 6; Results from Monday, May 8 not included; Previous ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Huntington Beach 25-3
Hagen Danner took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before finishing with a three-hitter when the Oilers topped Bellarmine Prep of San Jose 4-1 last Saturday in the state title game of the Boras Classic.
Jamal O’Guinn is headed for USC and last year helped Buchanan finish No. 1 in two national polls. Photo: Mark Tennis.
2. (3) Buchanan (Clovis) 25-2
The Bears have now beaten Clovis four times this season after getting a two-game sweep of the Cougars last week. They’ll need help to be No. 1 in the state again, but if Huntington Beach doesn’t win the CIF Southern Section D1 title then they’re right there in a strong position to move up.
3. (2) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 24-3
Calvin Mitchell continued to heat up toward the end of the season with two homers in a 10-7 win over Westview of San Diego. Mitchell also now has 10 homers himself this season.
4. (4) Eastlake (Chula Vista) 24-3
For the second time this season, the Titans have won 10 straight games after they defeated Otay Ranch of Chula Vista 8-1 and 3-1 in their two games last week.
5. (11) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 23-5
This ranking was done after the Braves had their three-game sweep last week of Anaheim Servite, but does not include a loss on Monday of this week to JSerra. They need to win one of the final two games this week vs. the Lions to secure Trinity League title.
6. (15) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 20-4-2
Harvard-Westlake’s more outstanding regular season including games outside of league puts the team higher than Mission League champion Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks not just in our rankings but in the L.A. Times’ Top 25 as well.
7. (10) Moorpark 22-3
Tyger Goslin, Moorpark’s starting quarterback in football last fall, drove in three runs in a 10-7 win last week against King of Riverside that went to eight innings.
8. (9) Gregori (Modesto) 26-0
The Jaguars could be the team to beat in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 South playoffs, but will have to get past Bear Creek of Stockton in a non-league game on Wednesday to make their case for being top seed.
